


the correct use of algae and saltwater

by Wino



Series: The Darcy fix no one asked for [17]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: But mostly fluff, Enemies to Friends, F/F, Fish out of Water, Fluff, Mythical creature!Darcy, Seals (Animals), Some angst, friendship fic, hinted Darcynat, mermaid!Maria, mythical creatures, selkie!Darcy, the author tried so hard, tiny crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-19 01:19:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13693899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wino/pseuds/Wino
Summary: The best part of mornings was snuggling back into your bed.Or, the fic where Darcy is a selkie, Maria is a mermaid and by biology should hate each other.And they do... for a bit.





	the correct use of algae and saltwater

**Author's Note:**

  * For [those who read it](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=those+who+read+it).



> Guys, guys, oh my god Guys this is for you!  
> I've posted on my Tumblr the reasoning behind the creation of this fic, and I'd love for you to read it.  
> But anyways, this is another mermaid fic, yes, because I kinda wanted to explore the world again and I thought I'd give it a different spin?  
> Notes on the Mythology are below, if you want to check that?
> 
> Also, special thanks to the brave souls of einar and fanaticreader16, my best commenters yet and test subjects for this fiction.  
> Special thanks to ragwitch and bloom who also checked some parts for me  
> AND sunstarmonster who helped me worldbuild.  
> You. are. awesome.
> 
>  
> 
> **I hope you enjoy this fiction, thank you so much for sticking with me! I love all of you, readers and mutuals and friends, even if we haven't met yet. I really can't wait for Fate (if you believe in that) to put you in my story and me in yours!**

The best part of waking up in the morning, with the sun streaming through the windows and the birds chirping their happiness, was snuggling back into your covers and ignore you were supposed to be up in the first place.

Besides, the bed was deliciously warm today.

Darcy rolled onto her belly and let her arms wander across the mattress aimlessly.

She absolutely loved lazy mornings. Jane was an angel and she loved the woman, but her Science!benders had increased in number lately and her loyal intern had really, really really needed some alone time.

Also, said intern had suffered through a dry spell of over six months, she was due some kind of me time.

Her face burrowed in her soft pillow and she sighed with pleasure.

Then her nose twitched.

Her hand touched something warm on her left.

For a blissful, wonderful fifteen seconds, Darcy Lewis recalled with alarming clarity the events of the past night, about the beautiful woman she’d hooked up with, about how they were now both very naked in her bed.

A few moments later, though, the sun hit her face head on, forcing her to turn her head with a muffled whine.

And there and then, any fuzzy, joyful feeling was sucked right out of her morning, for gleaming in the sunlight, along the spine of her alluring guest, were spots of golden fish scales.

* * *

 

“FISHSTICKS, I FUCKED A FISH!”

Without thinking, Maria Hill’s body went from asleep to alert and in a moment, her assailant was cursing and she had a gun trained on them. Good. “Who are you and where am I?” she asked icily, her eyes tracking the door and the window in the admittedly large room she was in.

“Hol- Okay, wait.”

The voice gave her pause.

Her clothes hadn’t been displaced and her weapons hadn’t been removed. Rookie mistake.

She vaguely recalled going to a bar the night before an- Wait.

Her eyes fell on the young woman sitting at the edge of the bed, her hands in the air and an empty glass of water on the ground. Another quick reassessment made her notice that her left arm was slightly damp, and showing signs of squamation. Indeed, her arm was fully covered in scales.

Her right hand didn’t lower the gun.

The young woman stared at her, incredulous. “Excuse you? Dude, are you serious?”

Maria kept her weapon trained on the woman, but the more she looked at her, the more last night’s events came into focus. And that didn’t make _sense._

She’d gone hunting, she shouldn’t feel tired.

Her eyes fell on the clock. _Eleven in the morning? This was preposterous_.

“What did you do?” The fact that she had gone to this woman’s _\- Darcy’s_ , her mind supplied, to Darcy’s flat was indisputable. She had. And yet, instead of feeling rejuvenated, she didn’t feel any different.

And Darcy knew her secret.

This was escalating from awkward to disastrous very quickly.

“Can you just lower the weapon for a second, dude?” the woman’s voice was raising in pitch and Maria started.

The neighbours. If Darcy screamed, everyone would hear her.

SHIELD could easily disappear one woman, but one entire building would require more work and paperwork than she would like to admit.

It just wasn’t worth it, when she could be just as efficient without a gun.

The Agent slowly lowered her gun and the woman sighed in relief.

“Stark talking,” Maria demanded, briskly.

The woman gaped. “You have some nerve, I’ll grant, dude. First, you come into _my territory_ as if nothing was wrong and you could… just waltz in. _Then_ you get into my bed and try to suck the energy off me- which okay, I was kinda trying to do the same to you so I’ll concede that point - and _then_ you point that thing at me and expect to be cooperative? Really?”

Maria frowned. “Start from the beginning, slowly.” Things weren’t adding up. She would have recognized a fellow Mermaid.

Darcy sighed. “Fine. You came into my territory, we hooked up - which, by the way, had never happened to me in my glorious career, just so you know - you’re in my room, and you probably feel as messed up as I feel because we both tried to feed off each other and failed. Aaand this is me feeling nauseated because apparently I just bedded a fish. Fish woman. Fishsticks. Whatevs.”

As the woman talked, irritation and annoyance bubbled in the Agent’s chest. This was finally starting to make sense. There was only one breed of creatures that dared to call them ‘fishsticks’ or ‘food’.

“Let us be clear here,” she declared after Darcy had talked to herself some more, “am I speaking to another sea creature. Because if I’m not, then we have a problem.”

Darcy snapped her mouth shut and pursed her lips, but then she stood. On her hipbone, a unassuming seal tattoo winked at her naughtily.

Maria groaned. “Of course out of everyone, I end up with the fucking manatee.”

The irate woman’s screeches almost made her deaf.

* * *

 

They mutually agreed never to speak of it again.

The Mermaid would leave the area in twenty four hours anyway, and they could both go back pretending nothing had happened.

Thankfully.

“So, how was your evening, Darcy?”

She wouldn’t reward this question with an answer. She wouldn’t. “It was terrible, Jane!” _Damn it_. “I met a horrible person and I’m so tired and Jane!! _Jane!_ ”

Jane had always been chill about Darcy being a selkie. She had questions, of course, she always did, but she was never bothered by the sheer amount of crabs and fish her friend consumed, or by the random, uncalled for commentary the intern would regale her with once she was back from her ‘nights off’.

Now she wasn’t being helpful and understanding _at all._

“In the months I’ve known you, I’ve… actually never seen you fail?” _She couldn’t even say this without laughing, the traitor!_

_“_ Extenuating circumstances, boss lady,” she grumbled. She wasn’t about to explain what actually happened even if Jane started paying her for reals.

After fifteen minutes, much complaining, a lot of whining and a couple threats, the scientist could finally string a couple of sentences without giggling. “Come on, let’s go get some actual raw fish in your belly. On me.”

Well, now that she thought about it, Darcy _was_ still pretty hungry.

* * *

 

“Hill,” Director Fury started without preamble, “good job on Project Valkyrie. Rogers has been safely recovered and we’re now awaiting confirmation for Project PEGASUS.”

SHIELD Deputy Director Maria Hill saluted. “Thank you, sir.”

It had been a gruelling two months for Maria.

Project Valkyrie had been a long standing and fruitless effort to recover the Tesseract and the remains of Captain America from the Arctic, a project started back in 1945, over sixty years prior.

When they found the site, however, SHIELD was very disappointed the spoils had been moved somewhere else.

Thus, Fury had sent her underwater, as he was wont to doing, and she hadn’t failed.

Oh, she had been glad to be back in the water for a change, but the weeks of negotiations had left her more spent that she liked to admit.

In the end, she had managed to retrieve what she’d come for.

She grimaced. Now came the hard part. “I had to agree to leave them the plane, sir.”

Director Fury, who had been facing towards the windows of his sealed office, giving his back to her, turned to stare at her with his good eye. “The plane?”

Maria nodded. “The Valkyrie, sir. It was the plane in exchange for the contents.”

Her boss frowned, “the plane.”

“It’s a memorial for the people they lost in the crash, sir.” She pursed her lips.

Fury sat down and passed a hand over his face, “Christ, I can’t deal with this. Merfolk making shrines out of Nazi tech.”

The Deputy Director stiffened. “We are freshwater creatures, _sir_ ,” she bit out.

It wasn’t the first time people just lumped every kind of underwater creature under the label of ‘mermaid’ or ‘merfolk’, but the Gods knew she found it irritating. And specist, too.

The man sighed. “Freshwater, right. Saltwater underwater creatures would be-”

“The Selkie coven, sir.” And out of professionalism, she wasn’t going to call them manatees… Just this once.

“Right. And they want the plane.”

Maria nodded again. “It’s practically empty, sir. There was just the ice block Captain Rogers was in and the Tesseract case. The rest was mostly eroded by time and eaten by fish and ice.” Not that the sea dwellers hadn’t tried to reverse engineer the thing, but according to what she had gathered, they hadn’t cared enough, in the face of their losses. They kept a respectful distance from the thing now, just letting it rot and admiring it grudgingly from afar.

“Let them have the metal thing, then. We got what we wanted anyway. Good job.” “Thank you, sir.” she saluted again.

It was clear that by then, the official part of their meeting was over, for Fury very pointedly served himself a cup of coffee and gestured to his deputy to do the same.

“Thanks,” she muttered. “Did I miss anything these two months?”

“Of course you did,” he grumbled, “shit happens every time you leave.” He almost threw at her three dossiers, all marked with ‘Project Avengers’ in angry red. “Stark almost managed to destroy his own Expo, Banner was sighted at Culver and I had to send Coulson between Vegas and New Mexico because aliens are real.”

Maria choked on her coffee. “In the span of two mere months?!”

Fury laughed darkly, “In the span of one week.”

The mermaid scowled and gave up trying to drink coffee from the mug. “I leave for two months…” “Exactly. Carter did tell me shit happens all at the same time. Especially when you aren’t in base. Lesson learned.”

Maria started flipping through the files. “You sent Romanoff to Stark and Barton to New Mexico?”

“Sure did,” Fury scowled, “fat lot good it did, but at least Romanoff got the job done.”

The agent nodded and rose from the chair, “that all, sir?”

“No,” Fury shook his head, “in New Mexico, Coulson found a scientist he wants to recruit, apart from Selvig who’s already cooperating with us. The astrophysicist seems to be on her way to secure interstellar and possibly interdimensional travel. We want her in. She’s not a priority, for now. But we need eyes and ears on her, someone we can trust.”

“Yes, sir.” She leafed through the report carelessly. Two women, both younger than 35, one of them not even a scientist.

She’d send a trustworthy lower grade agent, no need to pressure the astrophysicist before she actually discovered something.

* * *

 

She should have checked the file beforehand.

The picture of a laughing Darcy Lewis was taunting her from the Foster file.

Maria chewed on her lips and then sighed. Her sharp teeth weren’t pleasant on her skin, so she might as well stop brutalizing her lips.

She had to give it to the manatee, though. From the various reports her agents had sent her through the year, there was nothing that even hinted Darcy Lewis was anything less than a human glorified gopher. The girl was good.

It really was a stroke of luck that she had met her that one time. Or else, this conversation would have been much less pleasant.

“Darcy’s awesome and personal phone.” Yes, that was definitely her voice.

“Hello, Miss Lewis, don’t hang up,” she stated hurriedly, “my name is Maria Hill, and work with SHIELD-”

“And now I’m definitely hanging up, asshole-” was the smarmy reply.

“I’m calling in regards to Jane Foster’s safety.”

That stopped the woman short. “What about Jane.”

“I can be at your door in two minutes to explain. Close the windows and get ready to leave.”

* * *

 

Waking Jane up had to be like, sacrilegious or something.

It usually took Darcy between four and six hours of discussion to properly set a bedtime, and Jane usually failed spectacularly at keeping said time. The mere idea of rousing her from sleep was making the selkie almost cry.

When the doorbell rang, she sprung to her feet, whipped out her taser and, opening the door with one hand, aimed. “Identify yourself or I’ll fire.”

Dry laughter met her. “Yes, I am as pleased to meet you again as you are, Miss Lewis.”

Darcy squinted. And then gaped.

It was _that_ mermaid, the one from the bar.

She couldn’t quite hide her annoyance at the SHIELD leotard the woman was wearing. _Spies._ “You working for the thugs?”

The ‘agent’ didn’t spare her a second look. “We need you packed, right now. Loki’s on the loose and almost razed a base to the ground. Selvig and one of ours are off the grid, Coulson is already on site and we need you gone before he _thinks_ about getting Foster. Start packing. Do you have somewhere you can take the human?”

The selkie’s eyes widened. “Uh- Erik- gone-” but then her brain caught up. Loki was around, and he wanted Jane. Her spine straightened and her veins filled with adrenaline. “Yes. I… just… let me make a call and… yeah, we can leave for my Coven. Norway will be good for Jane, lots of stars.”

The _fish- Maria_ , nodded. “That will do. Make your call, I’ll wait for your luggage.”

Clothes went first, followed by Jane’s notes and Jane herself, who woke up with that cute pout of hers. _“Pick three friends, Janey, we’re leaving the rest of the tech here.”_

Maria hadn’t moved throughout her frantic stuffing things in small and bigger boxes.

Lastly, she brought out her Fur’s chest. Her expensive, pearlescent and lockless trunk.

The mermaid glanced at it approvingly, “one of ours.”

Darcy just shrugged noncommittally.

By now Jane had caught up with the events. “Are we even coming back?” she asked pointedly to the Agent.

The woman looked her dead in the eye. “It’s only temporary, Dr. Foster. The situation will be handled.” The selkie managed not to scoff at that, because she trusted SHIELD as far as she could throw it.

She’d reserve judgement, for now.

They swiftly started moving box after box.

“I’ll help you carry everything into the plane.” Maria made to approach the packages, and maybe it was just a coincidence that her chest was the first in line, but Darcy felt a full body shiver and promptly blocked her path. “We got this,” she snarled, startling both agent and Jane.

The astrophysicist raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth, but Maria got it at once. She opened her arms wide and moved in a different direction. “It wasn’t intentional.”

Darcy huffed. “I’m aware. Just… we got this.”

The woman made no other attempt at helping them. Nor did she try to engage in any kind of conversation.

The ride on the plane was tense and awkward.

* * *

 

Jane Foster started working for SHIELD a couple of months after the world had almost ended, almost being the keyword.

And, despite popular protests, brought her team along.

Maria was only half aware of the mess that her position could become if she was forced to work with one of her natural… enemies was perhaps too strong a word, but rival didn’t quite convey the distaste and contempt freshwater and saltwater creatures held for each other.

Darcy Lewis was a Selkie, but hardly the most confrontational one she had ever met (not that she had actually talked to her for an extended amount of time, and for the most part she hadn’t been aware the woman wasn’t actually a woman), and she wasn’t expected to keep contact with her. At all. In fact, she was so high up in the chain she would never cross paths the only other magical being in SHIELD, ever.

She really didn’t have time to ponder it, though, because the reports in her hands didn’t lie.

Stark was in some other kind of mess, and it _wasn’t even August_.

* * *

 

Jane wasn’t a happy camper. Not really.

She had won, right? All of her working conditions had been met, and promptly at that.

The astrophysicist was aware Director Fury was less than pleased to have an unqualified intern and a scientist that had been declared partially cuckoo after the Loki incident in his base, but he had somehow caved in and let her strongarm him into getting her way.

They had their own office in what was basically their own floor. Which was all in the contract and expected. Their equipment was brand new and exactly how she wanted it. She had ten assistants that knew what she was talking about and were at her literal beck and call.

What Jane had not foreseen was how little any of this mattered.

Rationally, she knew she was being silly. While she was forced to keep everything she did private (and Darcy grumbled long and hard about that part), she had everything she wanted. Yet she didn’t.

And Darcy, that was another sore point by itself.

Oh, she wasn’t complaining about her assistant, and she wasn’t _going to_ , because the Selkie had stuck with her through thick and thin and had never ever even suggested they separate, but the astrophysicist wasn’t an idiot, and she could see how much this never ending every day at work and research thing was chafing at her.

They were barely awake by the time they trudged out of the Triskelion every night, driven by an approved Agent that promptly dropped them off at their shared apartment, Erik nowhere to be seen, and in the mornings they were back in the labs.

Jane couldn’t even _remember_ the last time Darcy had gone ‘hunting’, however she called it.

Speaking of hunting, her assistant turned into a bloody wolfhound every time they entered SHIELD. Because she wasn’t (officially) qualified, and, if Jane said so herself, quite pretty, the brunette had been victim of a lot of misguided attempts at flirting. She had rebuffed all of them with words and, if needed, slaps (and in one memorable occasion, even used her taser), but it was seriously tiring.

For both of them.

And while it was true that it was mostly Darcy taking care of her, the scientist couldn’t help but frown and worry, as she watched her friend pick at her sushi distractedly. And stab viciously her slices of raw tuna.

“Are you okay, Darcy?” she wondered, blinking at her.

Darcy looked up, mid bite, and smiled nervously. “Yeah, sure. What’s wrong?”

“...Nothing… You just seem… jittery”

Her assistant winced. “Sorry. Tell you what, I’ll just… go take some fresh air, yes?”

And before she could say ‘sure’, the woman marched out of the lab, sushi box at hand.

* * *

 

_‘Fresh air’, inside SHIELD, oh yes, real smart, Darce._

It took Darcy exactly two turns and one elevator to admit she was hopelessly lost. And SHIELD didn’t do maps, just in case you were suddenly attacked.

_Ugh._

She just wanted some calm and quiet, like three seconds away from the buzzing equipment or the disdainful assistants.

The previous months had been more tiring than she liked to admit. Incapable of going out for some me time, or to actually fish something fresh, she had resorted to a diet of almost exclusively raw fish.

Which was fine, if the tuna didn’t taste like bleach. It totally did.

She masterfully avoided another pair of agents as they came her way, and somehow ended up taking another staircase and an elevator that totally wasn’t there one minute before.

Before she knew it, she had ended up somewhere in the upper floors with her suspiciously large lunch box.

For about three seconds, she contemplated pressing the elevator button and just pretending nothing had happened. That she wasn’t looking at a complete mess of flying papers and a fire the sizes she had never seen outside Jane’s lab and at agents flailing like headless chickens. It was probably a normal occurrence within the walls of SHIELD.

In fact, the fire was tamed relatively quickly and only a few lackeys and paper pushers were left with the damaged goods.

But then Deputy Director Maria Hill entered the room, her face stormy and the lines of her face fixed in horrified fury, and ouch, she felt for the poor soul the mermaid was about to tear into.

It was like watching a spectacular car crash with a speeding truck. Oddly fascinating, and yet terrifying.

In the end, after getting the names of every single soul that had provoked the accident, Maria sighed and ordered everybody out.

The agents scattered with the speed of fleeing cockroaches, and only her and Maria were left.

Technically only her, because the other woman emitted a hissing sound of pure frustration and just retreated back into her office, slamming the door.

And she would have loved, just loved, to ignore the pang of sympathy and go back to Janey. It was about time, too.

Another hiss was heard from the office, and Darcy swallowed. Jane would need to wait.

* * *

 

There was someone at her door.

Somebody knocking despite the previous show.

Maria was going to destroy the incompetent idiot who let the explosive hazard into level 8 and she was going to drown them. And then, she’d disintegrate the creature that was behind the door.

In this order.

Or in reverse order, because the agent behind the door took her silence as _please, do come in,_ and let themselves in anyway.

She turned, seriously considering violence.“I said, get-”

A napkin and a pair of chopstick met her furious gaze.

It was Darcy Lewis. “Here.”

“What?” she stared uncomprehendingly at the small package.

“It’s sushi,” the selkie explained, as if that solved _everything_.

Maria took a deep breath, but it wasn’t working. Of course a fucking manatee would think that _raw fish_ would make her feel better. Oh yes, so much better. _‘Please, have a taste of your people’_.

Any bile that she had professionally suppressed so far, because today had been fucking insane, rose to her mouth.

The mammal wasn’t particularly intimidated. In fact, she sat primly on the other chair and prodded the lumpy napkin until it was straight in front of her.

“It’s shrimp,” she grouched. “And crab. All the good stuff. You eat that, right? It’s a pain to share the best part of sushi, but you need it more than me anyways.”

She blinked, her ire momentarily forgotten. “We do.” It was weird not to be lumped into the kelp eating fishes group by a carnivore. As far as she knew, Selkies thought that they ate Fuchi or such crap.

Darcy brightened. “Okay, you can have it. I probably have some maki in here, but I’m afraid there’s also salmon and it’s probably best you don’t see that.”

Maria grimaced. “Definitely not.”

The other woman nodded and then fidgeted. “So, uhm… do you want me to go or…?”

Deputy Director Hill sighed and passed a hand on her face. Then shook her head and broke her chopsticks pair. “Stay.”

“Brilliant, because I got lost, you see? I was-”

* * *

 

The next day, to Darcy’s surprise, a note was left on Jane’s table in the lab.

It was so small she would have missed it if she hadn’t been so meticulous about keeping it clean (you never knew when Jane had a ‘moment’ and it became necessary to take All the Notes).

Written in a familiar language, was a simple ‘ _Thank you_ ’.

* * *

 

From them on, Darcy would always send something to Level 8 for lunch.

It usually was the greens first, because it made Maria sputter indignantly (the food never came back so she probably did eat it), followed by crustaceans or something they both loved to eat.

Sometimes, if she felt like it, Maria sent something back.

Life went on, and it was getting colder and darker as Christmas approached.

Until one day, when Darcy came back from a coffee trip (which took three staircases and two corridors!), she ran straight into Maria hanging out of the labs.

“Holy Fishsticks, wa- Crap, I’... I’m so sorry.”

The frown on the mermaid intensified. _Crap._ “I absolutely didn’t mean it like that,” the intern apologized.

Her… boss? Maria Hill was technically her boss, right? stared at her, unflappable. It was probably an acquired skill, because Coulson could stare just like that.

“Did, did you need something?” she tried again, eager for a change of topic.

This seemed to work, because the fi _-woman_ shook herself, and blushed slightly. “Nothing, I thought-”

It was then that Darcy noticed the dark circles and the bitten lips, and realized Maria was probably getting as much peace and sleep as she was.

“Would you like to come in? I’m cooking some ‘real food’ for Ja- Dr Foster,” she airquoted for the added effect, “but I miiiight have received a package from home with seaweed preserved scallops.”

Maria met her eyes quickly, “how did you even get them to your lab- Wait, no, I don’t want to know… Actually I do.”

The intern laughed at that, and the mermaid winced, torn between chuckling and frowning.

“Don’t worry!” the selkie chuckled mirthfully, “I had them inspected, even if now the barely look at the food I bring in anymore. Come in, come in!”

“I’m almost afraid to ask who’s paying for the food.” “SHIELD is, naturally. Dude, I was an unpaid intern until three months ago, no way I could afford raw f- _that_ every day. And the hours are crazy here, I don’t know how you manage to hunt, actually.-”

“I take time off.” Maria said matter of factly.

“Huh,” Darcy blinked, “is that a thing?”

The Agent sighed loudly, but she wasn’t frowning or cursing so that was good, right?

* * *

 

Through her more frequent conversations with the only magical creature within SHIELD, Darcy learnt that Maria’s status was indeed a secret for everyone but Fury and the infamous founder and first director, Carter.

According to the mermaid, as soon as Carter retired she had left and not looked back until the woman herself had asked her to come back to work under Fury.

Also, the Deputy Director had done the selkie a solid and hadn’t tattled about her secret. That was very nice.

However, the intern was also told about unspoken rules she should always stick to, lest the trained agents actually started noticing something was amiss.

The mermaid had been as exasperated as she was as she enunciated all of them very clearly. Apparently, Peggy Carter had given the rules to Maria in person when they’d worked together, and Fury was okay with enforcing them once she was back.

Stupid rules, really.

The ‘no poaching in SHIELD’ one was unnecessary, for one. She had literally needed to taser one Agent that wouldn’t take no for an answer. Drowning was going to be option two.

Also ‘no baths’ or ‘no public singing’ seemed a tad _too obvious_. She wondered what kind of life Maria had lived before the Director had given her this blasted list.

“‘ _At least one item of clothing, better if a jacket, over your leotard. Pretend you’re wearing your uniform if you can’t make it._ Are you for real?” Darcy laughed. “Dude!”

Maria had the decency to blush, “it’s extremely uncomfortable when you have sensitive scaly skin.”

Darcy stared. “Huh, I never thought about it like that. You have like, scales all over. That must be weird.”

The mermaid shrugged, “you get used to it, but I’d never wear that thing you’ve always strutting around in. Animal fibers feel disgusting, trust me on that.”

She… couldn’t sympathize. The idea of not wearing at least a layer of fur made her twitch.

The Agent yawned, showing a row of very impressive teeth before covering it with her hand. A human would probably flinch that, but Darcy knew hers were just as sharp. “Sorry. Stark is driving me crazy.”

The selkie winced. “That must suck. Also, should you be sharing this with me?”

“Are you going to tell anyone?” the other creature rebuked bluntly.

Darcy shrugged. “Nah. Stark’s your mess. Or Coulson’s. Enjoy.”

Maria’s head _thunked_ on her very large, white desk. “I don’t know what the hell is going on with him. He’s driving me crazy. I tell you, I’ll drown him before Christmas.”

“Sounds fun,” Darcy replied drily. “Do you need help hiding the body or shall we trade victims? You drown Dave in Sci-Tech and I drown Stark for you, perfect alibi.” She was only half joking. Dave was getting his one of these days.

Deputy Director Hill was business in a flash. “Did he try something?”

She sighed, “‘s cool, I can handle him for now. But I might ask to be my alibi one of these days.”

“I can’t officially condone the disappearing of one of my Agents, Lewis.” Darcy pouted. “But! I’ll tell you this: there is no external, criminal or federal investigation when a SHIELD Agent dies,” Maria added, helpfully.

Darcy batted her eyelashes, “you don’t say.”

* * *

 

_Stark. Had almost blown up. The President of the United States._

It was Christmas.

It was fucking Christmas.

She didn’t celebrate it, _but_ this was her one day off for the _month,_ the one day where hunting was almost as easy as St Valentine's, full of people eager for company and a warm body.

But nope.

She and Fury were spending the day doing Damage Control because of this mess.

Fuming wasn’t even covering it.

Stark was making her an absolute rage volcano, now that she thought about it.

“No, Mr. President,” Fury was muttering at the phone, “ _yes,_ Mr. President.”

Meanwhile, she busied herself with paperwork. As much as she could tackle at the same time. Anything to be out of there as quickly as possible. She didn’t fancy sticking around for the World Council to see her even from a distance. Politics was not something she liked playing with.

In fact, she was just about tackling the last damage control report when Alexander Pierce demanded an audience with Fury (or more appropriately, summoned him).

He strutted inside the room like he was the sole owner of SHIELD and barely spared her a glance. Just as well. She ignored the sudden feeling of unease and steeled her spine, in case he actually did look at her.

“Go home, Hill,” Fury barked meaningfully, eyes on Pierce as they shook hands. “Nothing else to see here, might as well enjoy your Christmas.”

“Yes, sir,” she saluted. “Sir.” She couldn’t be happier to be out of here, even the smell was getting to her.

_8.45pm, are you kidding me?_

Ugh, she had just wasted an entire day with this. Stark owed her big.

She silently made her way to the elevator, her head not really into it. If she was fast enough, she could probably squeeze a change of clothes and some bar crawling before being back to work tomorrow morning.

The elevator doors opened at around Level 4.

“Come on, Janey, it’s Christmas!” A familiar voice shook her from her musings. “Oh, hey, Maria!”

Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis stood smiling at the doors. And looked like colorful reindeers or Xmas elves.

Lewis always did, with her overstuffed sweaters and woollen hats and scarves and mittens she appeared ready for a Polar Expedition, but Foster was wearing an ugly sweater with a stupid snowflake motif and fake antlers, too.

“We thought we were the only ones in SHIELD today, the Labs are completely deserted!” exclaimed Foster, smiling happily as they stepped into the elevator.

“That’s because you’re an idiot and forced Agent Marks to drive us here at all costs because you had data to compile, boss lady. Were it for me, I’d be celebrating right now,” grumbled the assistant slash intern, pinning the Doctor with a glare.

“We’ve had a… situation,” she explained carefully. Her office was devoid of listening devices, but she couldn’t say the same about any other room in SHIELD, apart from Fury’s office, that is.

Darcy caught on very quickly and winced. “Seriously? It’s Christmas!”

Maria grimaced. “Don’t tell me.”

Foster looked between them and frowned. “I thought you didn’t celebrate it.”

“We don’t,” they said simultaneously. They looked at each other and snorted.

“It’s just a very nice day to have some me time,” the Agent revealed easily, the selkie nodding enthusiastically.

“Exactly what I’m going to do, boss lady. Get changed and then get completely wasted, possibly with female company.”

“Oh,” the scientist flushed red, “oh. Yeah well, Sounds like a plan. I’ll pass.”

The brunette snickered. “Don’t worry, boss lady, I got you. Besides, with you around I’d hardly score anything!”

Foster scoffed playfully, then turned to Maria. “Are you going with her?”

She winced. It was true that they were spending more time together, but group hunting wasn’t a thing she was comfortable doing even with people of her own species.

“Rude, Jane, rude!” cried Darcy, indignantly. “Proper bar crawling must be done on your own if you want it to count. Wingmans are out. You tell her, Maria!”

“That’s true,” she confirmed loyally. It really wasn’t, but she wasn’t going to miss the free pass thrown her way.

“Oh. Okay,” the tiny woman blinked, confused, and turned towards the window.

_Thank you_ Maria mouthed at her, gratefully.

Darcy winked. “So hey, how’s your alcohol endurance, by the way? Because mine is like, ridiculously low…”

* * *

 

 

Two days later, an offer from Tony fucking Stark flipped Darcy’s world upside down.

The selkie would never know just how much time her boss lady had slept on it, but after a week she walked out of Fury’s office and triumphantly ordered her to pack because they were moving to New York.

“Say goodbye to Agent Marks and twelve hour workdays, Darcy, we’re going to Stark Tower.”

And it was great, right? Living expenses covered and a huge stipend and no need to commute to work and free nights was a dream, right?

It was almost surreal how a part of her would insist that she was going to miss it here.

She wasn’t going to think too hard on this.

* * *

 

Stark Tower was under renovations.

Or at least, that’s what Tony Stark was going with for the reason there was a literal ‘under construction’ site over the penthouse. _In_ the penthouse.

It made living there a health hazard, especially for Jane. Tiny, focused airhead Jane who walked into danger without really noticing.

And it made Darcy’s job so much harder.

As busy as she was with setting up shop for Science while avoiding the construction workers and the watchful eye of the thugs Fury had sent to ‘aid relocation’, it wasn’t a surprise that it took Darcy over three weeks to notice just how lonely her life and Jane’s were, even at the Tower.

No one of the ‘Avengers’, or SI workers, or _anybody else_ was trying to make contact with them in any way. Stark had his labs and didn’t want to share his Science friend Bruce (who Darcy had only seen a couple of times and was mostly interested in Jane), and the other Avengers might not have been in the Tower at all for all she saw them. Pepper Potts and SI employees steered clear of the ‘Avengers Only’ quarters.

It was… pretty miserable.

She hadn't realized how silent everything was until it was only Jane and her, not even Erik to talk to.

Stark had promised a Common room and shared quarters (with a _pool!_ ) by the end of February, as soon as a better landing pad was integrated on the top floor, but for now everybody used their own apartment.

And their apartment was great, don’t get her wrong. She had a lot of space for herself and her stuff and everything she could ever acquire… And she loved Jane, she loved her to Asgard and back, but there was just so much togetherness they could both stand.

For this reason, she made a point of spending more time out in the evening, whenever her best friend chased her out of the apartment with the promise of violence if she tried to _‘-go cuddly seal on me another time Darcy I swear to Thor!’_

She wasn’t complaining… too much. She was maaybe a bit salty. Just a bit.

Stark could have at least waited until the tower was ready to have them move. She wasn’t a happy camper at SHIELD, but at least their apartment didn’t have workers drill into solid walls at seven in the morning.

She loathed to say it, but she even _missed_ Maria.

Darcy yawned, swirling the straw in her drink carelessly. She had picked the farthest table in the whole locale, right in the corner so she could have a perfect visual of the whole room. It was great for visuals, but not so great for being noticed, it was that poorly lit.

Was this seriously going to be another night without scoring any? How boring.

“You look like you could use some company.”

Darcy turned, and _aw, man_.

The blonde was cute. Very cute. At least 6 feet tall with beautiful blue eyes. Still she winced, because despite being objectively very handsome, the selkie was totally not into men. Even if they looked a lot like Thor. “Sorry, dude, I… You’re really... I’m just, really not into men,” she blurted.

The man blinked, then snorted. “I wasn’t making a pass at you, but that’s… cool. At least it’s not me, it’s you.” And he waggled his eyebrows.

Darcy laughed. “You’re cool, I like you. Sit down. I’m Darcy.”

“Steve.”

Had she been drinking, she’d have choked and died and become the laughing stock of all selkies forevermore.

“Holy Fish- I mean, Holy crap!” she was trying to be better about fish-naming, at least in public, “Oh god, I just turned down Captain America.”

The situation was so surreal she was laughing at herself and the guy was just chuckling along.

“Don’t laugh at me!” she snapped playfully, “also, I should send you away right now. With you here I won’t actually get any action tonight!”

This time it was him choking on his drink.

“Don’t worry,” she reassured him, patting his arm. “you’re still cool.”

* * *

 

Steve was very surprised they had more people at the Tower.

But he was very cool about it, and soon enough he became a regular of Jane’s lab in the mornings whenever he wasn’t going to DC for work.

It made for a pleasant change. He was really good company (and she kind of wanted to test herself at arm wrestling against him? What, she was curious).

Unfortunately, Fury kept him as busy as humanly possible.

“Wow, that slave driver’s sending you on a mission again?” she asked incredulously one cold January morning. She was wearing three sweaters and, still, it didn’t feel enough.

Steve shrugged, “there’s stuff only I can do, so why not do it? Besides, Maria said it’s going to be a quick job.”

At the mention of Maria, her insides squirmed a bit with guilt. It was almost a month since she’d last heard from her, right after the Christmas episode, and she hadn’t really tried to keep contact with the mermaid, while kind of placing all of the onus on her. ‘ _Well she could at least call’_ she had told herself over and over, when she was doing nothing on her part.

She was going to rectify that.

“Hey, Steve, would you mind terribly if I gave you something to give Maria?”

* * *

 

She was getting used to Captain Rogers just coming into her office with Stuff.

Usually, weird objects that attracted his attention or spiked his curiosity. Sometimes it was his helmet and more often than not, his shield. One time, it was an unconscious Agent.

So she didn’t even bat an eye when he set a white cardboard box on her office. “What’s this?”

“Package from Stark Tower. Darcy said to send it to you? It’s probably something from Foster.”

Huh. Maria looked at the box curiously. Foster had a different arrangement with Fury, it was certainly something from Darcy. She carefully removed the lid and peeked inside, angling the box so that Steve couldn’t. “Romanoff and her squad are waiting for you on the deck, Captain-” He nodded and that. “Thanks for this, by the way. I really appreciate it.”

He seemed torn between asking her what was in the box or just ignore it. “It’s personal stuff,” she took pity on him, “something I had asked her about when she still worked for SHIELD.”

His face cleared and he looked at her sheepishly. “Sorry.” “It’s okay, Steve,” she smiled. “But really, Romanoff _is_ still waiting. Close the door on your way out.”

A closed glass door would actually hide very little, but it did convey the beautiful ‘fuck off’ message she wanted to express. Especially if this was the usual food offering.

As it turned out, it wasn’t. Behind a thick coat of seaweed the selkie was used to wrapping everything in, from food to clothes, were customary apology offerings: a couple trinkets for her hair, two hairpins with pretty shiny pearls and a string of colorful seashells for her tail. It was… very thoughtful if a bit disconcerting. Why was she receiving apology gifts?

At the bottom of the box, there was a very badly photoshopped picture of a seal in front of the Statue of Liberty, along with a phone number. _‘Should keep in touch’_ was printed in black.

Maria snorted. Then she pulled out her phone “You do know this is going to be my screensaver, don’t you? And what's with the gifts? Also, why waste so much kelp to send apology gifts! You-”

* * *

 

Being back in touch with Maria inexplicably brought a lightness to Darcy’s step.

She couldn’t really explain the reasons, but life in solitary confinement slash Tower was more bearable already.

Of course, by now the renovation works were almost over, and the selkie had actually managed to meet the elusive scientists _twice_.

Tony was an absolute weirdo with a curious streak a mile wide, but he also had a heart of gold and a sarcastic vein feeding it.

Bruce Banner was also a concentrated of weird, which made her nose twitch in alarm for no apparent reason, but instead of being exuberant about it, he tried to keep it hidden. Often enough, he failed at it.

What they did have in common with Jane, though, not counting their scary brains and their love for science, was the apparent incapability to take care of themselves.

And so, with great sighing and much grumbling, she had taken to cook for everybody at odd hours.

Two weeks later, she was ‘hired’ and was now doing the assistant job for all of them.

Maria found it hilarious. “I’m so happy Stark is no longer my problem, I tell you.”

“I can’t believe I’m filing his paperwork, Maria! You were so right. I won’t ever ever tell you Stark is not a pain, I promise,” she whined.

“Hah. Told you so. Speaking of which, Fury asked me to change your surveillance detail,” she stated. “Said Foster isn’t progressing, so we’ll be lowering your checks from now on. He’s busy with another… project of his.”

Darcy frowned. “You seem upset about it.”

“Eh, nothing to worry about.” _More like nothing I can tell you while working_. “I should come and visit. The Tower is almost ready, right? I have business in DC next week, but ì-” “Oh yes,” Darcy was already nodding, pleased, “do come over, we need more girls around. There’s been science minions around the labs lately, and there’s just me and Jane to compensate!”

“Wha-? Isn’t Romanoff with you? For that matter, isn’t Barton also there?”

Darcy blinked, “Who’s Romanoff? Also, no? There’s just me and Jane and Steve and the Science dudes. At least, I haven’t seen anybody else?”

There was a muffled curse on the other side of the phone. “Splendid, they lied about their whereabouts,” was said so low the selkie was pretty sure she wasn’t supposed to hear that. “Don’t worry about what I said, Darcy. They’ll probably spawn once the Tower is ready and will pretend they were there all the time.”

Oh, okay. Whoever the dudes were anyway.

* * *

 

Not dude. Not dude.

_Romanoff was definitely not a dude._

Agent _Natasha_ Romanoff came to the Tower three days after Darcy had talked to Maria.

And _Oh, boy,_ Darcy could see the train wreck happening.

The agent marched through the glass paneled corridors with a confident step, ignoring everyone but her prey, a grease stained and yammering Tony Stark.

“Stark,” she said briskly.

Tony had the ability to sense danger if coming from a woman, after so many years spent between vapid, jealous girls and then refined with Pepper. This didn’t mean he would stop poking a sleeping bear. “Agent Romanoff, what can I do for you? I must say, you look particularly dash-”

“Cut the crap, Stark. Just tell me where Clint and I are supposed to sleep and we’ll be on our way.”

She was tired and exasperated and gripping her duffel bag a bit too tightly for comfort (and that bag looked as heavy as Steve’s, and she wasn’t even carrying it over her shoulder).

Darcy got the distinct impression the woman didn’t fancy being here at all. Still, she busied herself with Jane’s papers, to at least look like she was working and not shamelessly eavesdropping.

Stark had sniffed the same displeasure in the spy’s voice. His eyebrows steadily climbed to his airline and he started with his patented conciliatory tone, “Well, we’re still touching the windows and-” her look turned positively threatening and he cowered. “-The third floor will do. Next week we’re installing JARVIS back in the Tower, so by then everything should be alright.” The beautiful woman nodded. “That’ll do. Thanks. Clint and I don’t share,” she added.

The billionaire just shrugged easily, “if the space doesn’t do it for you we’ll find you something bigger. Oh, and pass by the other lab to let Darcy know there’s two people more to feed, yeah?”

Darcy instinctively tensed.

The spy’s gaze zeroed on her immediately.

_Was this how fish felt when it was about to be eaten?_ Darcy idly wondered, blushing under Romanoff’s contemplative gaze.

Because _shit_ , she didn’t know if she liked the feeling or not.

* * *

 

“And then you lied to me, you lying liar who lies. Romanoff is not a dude, and she is actually hot! Like, one of us hot! Oh my God. What the hell, Maria! Shouldn’t you have like… warned a girl or something?”

Maria only laughed harder, so hard she almost cried.

* * *

 

Stark called for a celebratory party as soon as JARVIS was back in the Tower.

Only Rogers not being around made him postpone the event until he was back.

Unfortunately for Natasha, neither Hill nor Fury agreed to send her away on a mission, citing good PR for the Avengers if all of them attended.

Meanwhile, she and Clint had started acclimating with the new environment.

Clint had taken to ‘Avengers’ like a duck to water. He loved spending time with _everyone_. From the bots to Stark to JARVIS to Jane Foster who, despite being very kind and gentle for an average human being, was also very focused on her job and could transform in a little strong gremlin in two seconds flat. Even Foster’s intern had taken a shine to him, but then again, Darcy Lewis took a shine to everybody.

She liked and treated every single one of them like they were some sort of family slash pack or long lost best friends or cousins she had never met but absolutely needed to comfort or to share love with.

Natasha honestly envied such an open and trusting attitude. As well as Clint.

Not really envied him, more like the easygoing attitude he didn’t need to fake to make friends. She didn’t need friends, she just… liked not feeling alone. That was probably it.

Then again, if this spared her Tony’s antics it might even be worth it.

“Oh, hey, Nat!” Clint exclaimed happily from the vents. Natasha didn’t startle anymore at this, pretending to leisurely read her book on her bed, but she hadn’t expected him to drop into her rooms. She should have and would rectify as soon as possible with traps. “Darcy’s cooking and I was sent away, so I thought, why not go and see how you were doing?”

Natasha scrunched up her nose. “I’m fine,” she answered. “Are you this bad at cooking that she had to chase you away, Clint?”

Her friend snickered. “Nah, she just hates it whenever people help her in the kitchen. Also, did you know she’s following some sort of raw pescatarian thing? I asked her and apparently it’s a life choice, if that makes sense.”

It didn’t, but then again the agent didn’t know anything about Darcy Lewis either. It irked her somehow, but the girl had almost nothing in her file. Even the SHIELD personnel folder Maria had personally given her were exceptionally unremarkable.

One person had to really try at being this average, Natasha believed.

Besides, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the young woman was hiding something big from her, and it didn’t have anything to do with a pescatarian diet.

“Tell me, Clint,” she started, “don’t you think Darcy Lewis is hiding something… Let me rephrase. Do you think Darcy Lewis is avoiding me?”

The marksman choked on his spit. “Wha- Are you serious?”

He only received a blank look in response, so he huffed and descended from the vent, his dusty booths making contact with her fluffy white rug. _Oh_ she was booby trapping _everything_.

“Well, yes Darcy is hiding something. She’s doing it very poorly, mind you, but you’ve got to admit she’s still young.”

She contented herself with staring at him uncomprehendingly.

Clint blinked, flabbergasted, “Nat, are you for real? She’s got like, the biggest crush on you. Like, full blush and stammer. _She brings you tiny gifts!_ She asks you what you’d like for dinner before she asks any of us. Sometimes before Jane! I can’t believe you’re that oblivious!” he chortled.

Nat froze. _Oh_. She wasn’t used to looking for signals on people who weren’t marks, and didn’t really know how to feel about that.

Clint sensed her nervousness and patted her knee comfortingly. “Cheer up. It’s Darcy, she doesn’t really expect anything from you, you know that, right? You do you, Nat.”

“Mh,” she nodded, feeling just a tiny bit better about it.

And yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t it.

* * *

 

“Have you thought that maybe you’re paranoid?” stated Maria calmly over her drink.

At her side, Darcy twitched.

The party was in full swing, the music was loud, Tony was shouting and a lot of people Maria had never met were dancing on the biggest dance floor slash common room she had ever been. It was conveniently deafening.

She didn’t have to shout for Darcy’s good ears to hear her, and this made the best conversation spot for sensitive information. They could be discussing nuclear weapons and unless someone with good hearing found themselves within six feet, no one would hear them. Not that they were having such a discussion.

It was more a discussion along the lines of ‘Help, my crush suspects I have a crush on her’ or similar.

Sometimes the mermaid forgot how young the selkie was, despite the perceived immortality. Not even a hundred and already living with the humans. Some people just liked the risk.

“I’m telling you, girl, it’s not that,” Darcy bemoaned, “I’ve seen her prowl the area around my rooms twice and she’s been more persistent about conversation. Like, actually getting to know me conversations.”

“That… that’s actually a good thing, Darcy. You like Natasha.” Seriously, was there even a point to this conversation?

“Yes! But what if,” she looked surreptitiously around and lowered her voice. “What if she actually wants my chest?!”

Maria’s smile froze a little. “Did you tell anyone about your chest?” In her head, ten different scenarios ran rapidly, scouring the possibilities of a slip from the creature that had kept her cool in the middle of a SHIELD base crawling with agents. “ _Of course not!_ ” Darcy sounded scandalized.

“Then there is no problem. You fixed the vents like I taught you?” At the intern’s nod, she nodded back. “You’re good. Don’t strut around with the thing on, and no one will suspect anything.”

The selkie took a deep breath and visibly calmed down. “Yeah, you’re right… I’m probably being paranoid.” _With the Black Widow,_ Maria thought, _there is usually a good reason_.

“Thanks, by the way,” the girl went on, “I don’t know what I would do without you. It’s such a relief to have someone like you around? Like, someone who gets it, yeah? So… thanks.”

She wanted to say that she was fine on her own, like she’d always been, that Mermaids weren’t pack creatures like selkies were, and that she didn’t need another magical creature to understand. She would be lying.

So she clinked their glasses together and said, “cheers.”

* * *

 

It was almost fitting. The rain.

Now that she thought about it, it was probably her powers.

But it didn’t matter. _Almost_ didn’t matter.

And she shouldn’t drive in this state in the rain.

Not like it would actually kill her.

Still, she kept to the speed limit and didn’t stop until Stark Tower was in sight.

* * *

 

Jane looked up when Darcy didn’t answer for the third time in a row. “Is everything alright?”

Her friend was curled on the couch close to the eastern window, the big one that gazed straight into the Ocean, and was looking at the clouds very intensely.

“I don’t know,” she muttered. “Don’t these clouds seem weird? They look a lot like Thor Bro’s, but different.”

At the mention of her missing boyfriend, the astrophysicist jerked a bit from her chair. Rain was starting to pour very generously. “Do you think it’s him?”

The Selkie frowned. “No, I don’t think so,” she elaborated, “it kind of sounds like Maria?”

Jane goggled at her. “Maria can do _that_?”

But Darcy just shrugged, her hand absentmindedly reaching for her seal tattoo on her hip.

_Okay._ Jane Foster was not stupid. Her friend had never said it out loud, but it had been clear from day one that Maria was, if not another selkie, some kind of magical underwater creature she could never gain a deep understanding of. It was _fine_. Everybody was entitled to their secrets.

Besides, Jane really didn’t fancy cuddling up to another seal. Darcy was awesome, but if she wanted a pet? She would be getting a cat or a dog (the cuddling was nice, but then Darcy would fall asleep and flop on her belly and ignore any following demand for space).

So she had never prodded.

However, she was pretty sure seal women had no weather magic, or Darcy would have made it rain every day back in New Mexico.

“Apologies, Dr Foster,” JARVIS’s cultured voice made her inhale sharply. Had they said too much? Was he listening? “Agent Hill is requesting access to the labs.”

Jane was so relieved it wasn’t about her possibly busting her friend that she didn’t really register Darcy jumping off the couch and hastily telling JARVIS that it was cool, that _yes_ the Agent could come in.

Maria was a wreck.

Or so she thought, because she could barely catch a glimpse of her before the Selkie threw her favourite patchwork on her head, the one she’d painstakingly sewn on her own while Jane stargazed, and demanded JARVIS take them to the pool and enact Privacy Protocol III. “I’m taking the day off, Janey, don’t follow us!” she called back, vigorously trying to dry her… friend? up from head to toe. “Didn’t they teach you the use of umbrellas, you stupid thing? Or, I don’t know, yoga? Come on-”

The doors closed, and they were gone.

For a second, the woman felt a chill on her neck, going down her spine like some sort of bad omen.

She quickly dismissed it. _Must be something stuck in the vents again._

* * *

 

_Well, at least it wasn’t raining anymore_ , Darcy mentally sighed.

She had thrown Maria in the water with her quilt, hoping and praying that JARVIS had indeed activated Privacy Protocol III.

Stark had built what had to be an Olympic swimming pool. It was huge and very prettily tiled. Then, unhappy with the result, had built two other pools and a saltwater one too.

Darcy may or may not have abused of it a lot.

But now the Mermaid, completely transformed, was aimlessly circling the pool like an animal caged in a very large zoo cell.

The selkie took a moment or two to admire the golden of her scales, from the dusty golden flecks on her arms to the thick coating of her tail, the swirl of the dark hair and the evident strength of her fins.

Fish-iness aside, mermaids were very beautiful indeed.

She sighed, her hands messily tying up her hair in a bun before she stripped of pants and socks.

The young woman lowered herself and sat at the edge of the pool.

Like a shark, the Mermaid was in her personal space right away.

“Feeling better?” she smiled sadly. She wasn’t quite sure what had happened, but something must have. Mermaid magic wasn’t something you played with.

“No,” was the sharp reply.

“...Okay.” She was going to roll with this. Maria would come around sooner or later and they had time. She wasn’t going to push.

“I’m leaving SHIELD within the next year.”

The abrupt declaration sent the intern’s mind reeling.

Maria Hill had stuck with SHIELD since its foundation because of the affection she held for her friend Margaret Peggy Carter, leaving for only about 16 years following her retirement. For her to leave the spy agency, only one thing could have happened.

“Is she…?” she let the question hang in the air. No way she was going to say ‘dead’ to a shaken mermaid.

“No,” Maria shook her head rapidly. “She just… she isn’t there anymore,” she hiccupped.

“I felt the pull weaken, day by day I feel less bound to my promise. So I went to check on her, because that’s what friends do but… She doesn’t recognize me anymore.”

Darcy inhaled sharply, but the mermaid continued. “I went to visit my friend, and found a woman who doesn’t remember anything anymore. She roughly remembers Steve, has some rudimental notion of SSR back in the day but… nothing else. She looks at me and sees nothing. No spark of recognition, _nothing_.”

She had never seen a Mermaid cry.

Never in her wildest dreams, she had imagined to see one cry.

Her tears looked like blood, as red and angry as her pain.

And she couldn’t even imagine _that._ The pain of seeing your friend go on in their life and just… grow old. That was what humans did, right? Grow old and marry and have kids and then just.. die.

And Darcy realized that moment that Maria would probably have to see her friend off, because that’s what mermaids did, being the bridge between Life and Death.

That was…

Her own milky white tears spilled over like pearls and joined the mermaid’s in the water.

She ignored the sandpaper feeling the fish scales gave her, and just hugged her tightly. “I’m so sorry. I can’t even imagine, I’m so sorry.”

After a few minutes, Maria hugged back.

* * *

 

Darcy and Jane ended up insisting she stay with them for the night.

The Agent was grateful, she didn’t crave another five hours of driving and going back to work the next day. Fury would survive 48 hours without her. Maybe. Despite his claims that she was lucky (Peggy used to say that same and _oh that hurt_ ), she hardly considered herself to be.

But right now she was wrapped in another colorful blanket on a couch with a dozing astrophysicist, fried algae on the coffee table in front of her and a flabby, grey seal on her right, so maybe she had to reconsider.

Only… “Are we going to spend the night here?”

Jane blinked sleepily and snuggled closer, “if you can actually remove her, be my guest. I gave up on it after the first few weeks.”

Well, if that was it. Maria shrugged, disentangled her arms from under the creature and _pushed_.

There was a terrified squawk, followed by the slap of flesh on the floor and an undignified noise of pure annoyance. Then a giggle from Jane. “Did she just… bounce?”

* * *

 

The next day there was nothing in the sky that suggested it had rained at all.

Darcy was cheerily humming while she flipped the pancakes. Three more and she’d have JARVIS call everybody downstairs.

It was amazing how much they could eat when they were together.

“Hello, Darcy.”

Okay, that wasn’t fair. She had really, really good ears and yet Natasha always managed to sneak up on her.

“Heeeeeey,” she squealed, awkwardly, “Natasha, what can I do for you?”

“You could start by telling me why Clint came through the vents last night telling me he saw a mermaid in the pool, mh?”

Her throat dried up. Her spine stiffened and she almost lost her grip on the spatula.

Oh God, this was a disaster.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she wanted to turn away, but that would have been a dead giveaway.

Natasha’s spine straightened. “Darcy, what are you hiding?”

Aww crap. She hated lying to the Russian woman, but she would keep this secret. Even if it cost her.

“The _what_ would be me, Natasha.”

Darcy almost slumped in relief.

The spy whirled around and her eyes widened when she took in who had answered. She took a long look at Maria, and then went back to Darcy. “You two have a lot to explain.”

* * *

 

One after one, the Avengers eventually caught up on the very special pescatarian diet Darcy was following. Or rather, what it actually meant.

Steve didn’t bat an eye the first time he saw the Selkie sunbathing on the pool floor, and neither did Bruce.

Tony probably wanted to dissect her, but only mentally which was … kind of fine.

Natasha was almost disappointed, and for the life of her Darcy couldn’t really understand why.

So she complained about it with Clint.

“Eh, it’s just that she was starting to hope you kept glancing at her because you had a crush,” he explained carelessly, tossing a ball in her direction. “Do you like playing with balls?”

She frowned. “I’m not a circus seal, and what?”

“Well, you kept giving her the doe eyes, I thought it was because you thought she was hot.” “I do,” she blushed. “Maria told me I wasn’t subtle about it, as well.”

“Oh.” Clint was suddenly very focused on the ball he had thrown. “Well, if your best friend says so, it’s usually true.”

“Maria’s not my best friend,” she said automatically. Was she even a friend?

The ex circus member looked at her as if she was crazy. “Huh, sure Darcy, sure. I mean, maybe you do it differently, like, there’s some secret initiation marine shtick we know nothing about, but usually people comforting each other and calling each other all the time and spending time together are considered friends, you know?”

They weren’t friends. Possibly. Maybe?

The selkie scowled. She would have seen the signs. It’s not like they were attached at the hips, they just liked spending time toget- _Oh God. When did that happen?!_

“When did that happen?” she wondered aloud, her eyes wide and expression surprised.

And fuck it, Clint was right, and for multiple reasons.

“I need to talk to Steve.”

* * *

 

To say that Maria was surprised to see Steve in her office that morning would be an understatement.

She had just come back from a mission herself, ready to face a lot of paperwork, when Captain America knocked at her door.

She blinked slowly, “Captain Rogers, come in. I didn’t expect you for another ten days, did anything happen?” _Please no. Please please no_ , she had just come back from a job.

He snorted, “no, nothing, if we don’t count a hyperactive mammal on sugar.”

She sniffed, “I always say not to leave sugar when the manatee is around,” she joked.

He laughed, “Darcy says exactly the same thing all the time! But anyway,” he produced a white box from behind his back, “she left this for you. Said it’s very important you receive it today.”

Maria squinted at the package. “Okay, thank you, Steve.”

He waited patiently at the door, as if hoping she’d open it with him present. “Nice try.”

He barked a laugh and left, saluting her mockingly.

The mermaid huffed and went back to her present.

Opening it, she was unsurprised at finding the customary perfectly edible kelp strands, used as a container. The girl would never learn, really.

She laughed out loud at yet another compromising and badly photoshopped postcard, promising herself to use this one for her second cell phone.

Written by pen at the bottom of the postcard, was another message.

_‘We should go out next week. I can be a good wingman, you know? That’s what friends are there for, after all.’_

**Author's Note:**

>  **I hope you liked it,** I tried so hard and it's been a long seven days of no sleep. 
> 
> **Notes on the myth**  
>  Let's start with: there's almost nothing on Selkies. My sourcebook, which is Mercatante's Dictionary of Myth and Legends for those who wanted to take a look, has basically nothing on them, so I had to use mostly Google for selkies and aquariums for seals (in the end, decided to cut most of the seal scenes for obvious reasons).  
> Because Selkies and Mermaids share a common space in mythology, as in geographically speaking, I used the freshwater mermaids that are found in the same British / Northern folklore, going so far as making Mermaids freshwater creatures and Selkies coven saltwater creatures.  
> I am absolutely willing to answer to worldbuilding questions if I'm not making sense, I'm working on coffee and green beans as I write.  
>  **Special notes on Selkies**  
>  Selkies are mammals.  
> Selkies are described as creatures whose magical fur allows them to transform in seals and live underwater.  
> They are described as immortal, beautiful beings who love to take care of others and make 'excellent wives'.  
> They are pack creatures (the more the merrier) and obligate carnivores.  
> Their diet is composed of fish and crustaceans.  
> They are also described as creatures with seductive powers.
> 
> **Special notes on mermaids**  
>  Mermaids are fish.  
> As in, they don't give birth and use eggs. They eat kelp and occasionally crustaceans.  
> They don't eat fish as they identify with the animal.  
> The myth says they are lucky and can control the weather.  
> Also, they bring the souls from Limbo to their destined place.  
> They also have seductive powers and prey on unsuspecting humans.
> 
> I tried mixing and matching as much as I could without really going against any of these focal points. I tried so hard.  
> I ended up with a population of underwater creatures who fight for human prey, and ended up fighting over one sailor or another for so long that they just fractured to the point of becoming enemies.  
> In fact, they often use derogatory terms to describe each other and all in all is a 'they' versus 'us'.  
> I tried to convey this message and also to give a fleshed out world, but I realize sometimes I fail.
> 
> I hope you liked it, **please leave a comment and make my day?**


End file.
